What annual tickets / card / memberships have you had and was it worth it?

[TheKitchenWitch]

What places have you bought annual tickets for, and do you find you've gone more often because of it, or has it turned out to be a waste of money?

We have had annual Legoland tickets (we're in Germany) for about 5 years now as the renewal price is so cheap and we always go at least twice a year which makes it worth it.
We're about an hour and 20 mins away from it, so it's definitely a day trip rather than pop down for the afternoon, but last year we went six times, and used the coupons you get with the tickets for taking friends cheaply too, so absolutely got our money's worth!

This year I also got us annual tickets to a national-trust type place which is much nearer, as we go there quite often anyway (there's gorgeous gardens/park with playground, plus a whole section just for children, and various events on during the year which we like to go to). I'm hoping that having the tickets will make me more likely to get off my arse and make us go out as a family at the weekend

We live in the North East and have National Trust and Beamish.

We always have NT and EH, some years I add Historic Houses Association (just one trip to somewhere like Castle Howard and Alnwick Castle which are both a full day out with driving pays for the cost of the membership).

I have RHS just for me - everyone else here thinks RHS is boring.

York museums and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

I rarely pay to get in anywhere we go and we try to go somewhere a couple of times a month at least (not counting our local NT place where we walk the dog most days).

NT, English heritage, V and A, Tate.

I have national trust for me and ds which is well worth it.

We did have merlin passes but let them expire last year. Lego and sealife at Manchester where his go to places so with a trip to legoland or Alton towers once a year they worked well. He has gone off them now though so wasn’t worth renewing

We have NT membership. It isn't worth it because we don't go often enough, probably because I work a lot of weekends and there aren't any really close to us. We have had it for about 3 years, but they automatically renew it each year and then send me a letter with our new cards etc. I need to work out how to cancel before next summer.

I get English Heritage through a work staff perks scheme. We use it a lot as we have a ds who likes castles and knights etc.
We live near to Blenheim Palace and the regular ticket is valid for a year so we use that quite a bit.
I had a zoo one when my children were preschoolers that was good fun, and we had Thorpe Park ones for a year thanks to being Mumsnet testers. That was great fun but not an expense we could run to/justify ourselves.

We have NT and use it enough to justify the cost, we often use it to break a long journey by visiting somewhere along the way.
I didn't get enough use out of the RHS so cancelled it. Another one we should cancel,is the Camping and Caravanning Club! We used to use it more when we camped more, but hardly do anymore.
I live quite near the Eureka Museum, that was worth having with little kids.

Do you think having the annual tickets makes you go more often?

We have Beamish, National Trust and Alnwick castle. We renew NT yearly and use it loads, we sometimes book a premier inn near a place we want to visit and enjoy a weekend away.
Alnwick castle we will visit a few times before it expires next summer but don’t think we will renew that one.
Beamish runs out at Christmas and we may not renew it until next Christmas. It just helps to keep it fresh and stop the kids from getting bored. But we have visited 5-6 times in the year.

National Trust and English Heritage

I have National Trust and Historic Royal Palaces, and English Heritage through work. All defintely good value.

I thought we’d just get HRP for a year and visit the shit out of the Tower of London that year and then cancel but the Magic Garden at Hampton Court changed all that. Plus there is something lovely about being able to nip into the ToL or Hampton Court just to look at one or two things rather than feeling the need to see everything in a single day. We live fairly close to Hampton Court, though.

I love tickets that are valid for return for a year, like St Paul’s or the London Transport Museum.

This year we got an annual pass to Wonderlab at the Science Museum. The ability to skip the queue is worth it, besides the cost saving as it’s such a great space.

I used to have RHS/Kew membership but we barely used it.

Every now and then I look at Merlin passes but they’re so very expensive.

Eureka- pay once, go for a year. We get use out of that as fairly local and DS is 6.
National Trust- not every year but we have at the moment and get use out of it
Just joined Harewood House and booked their Santa.

Do you think having the annual tickets makes you go more often?

Definitely. It's a 'what could we do today' option, instead of a 'special day out' option.

NT is a permanent one we renew yearly.

Beamish we take breaks from. Ours ran out in the summer so I expect we will renew in the spring.

Sometimes have The Deep as my parents are near there.

Do you think having the ann ual tickets makes you go more often?

Definitely.
We had them to the ThinkTank in Birmingham when mine were little, and went there loads. My SiL bought Merlin passes one year and set out on a mission to use them to the utmost, knowing they had them for that year.
It does depend what you are near, though.
My Sis had a wonderful Nat Trust parkland near here and she got her money back several times over, just parking and stretching her legs there regularly over the year, before starting on visiting other places. Having the ticket made her go to other places she wouldn't have thought to though.
Don't forget Blue Peter Cards, which are great if you have dc

We've currently got Merlin passes. They're good value for us as we live within 30 mins drive of Chessington and Thorpe Park and Legoland is about 40mins away. Train to London is 30 mins to do Madame Tussauds, Dungeon, London eye, Aquarium etc in the winter.

We definitely would not get them every year as we'd get bored of doing the same things. Last time we had them was about 3 years ago.

Merlin annoy me as they try to make you upgrade all the time and if you have the basic passes like we do there are restrictions on when you can go to places but we work round that.

Do you think having the annual tickets makes you go more often?

I think it just becomes an easy part of going out, dull day, breaking up long journeys, somewhere to aim for on a bike ride.

The only thing I have paid for this year is the Alnwick Gardens, I will also pay for Castle Howard's Christmas thing as they changed their rules last year and HHA no longer gets you into it.

We have done loads of different things. NHM when we could get to London easily etc., etc..

I live right next to a NT place but just a bit too far to walk to now (elderly dog) so the car park saving alone must pay for that ticket within two months.

I have an NT membership which more than pays for itself, my local place costs £5 to park but it's free for members and I usually go for a holiday in the Lakes every year, where there are lots of nt car parks and places to visit.

I also have an RHS membership through work, the family live near to one of the gardens and we spend a lot of time there in the summer holidays.